Chupathingy

Chupathingy is the only British team left from the Grifball Winter League 2008 that has kept their original name. The other team from that era being Tartan Army who after a poor start to the season, reformed and have now become Death on Call.

During the Winter League, when the official grifball highlights were still being commented by Burnie Burns and Geoff (sometimes with others), Chupathingy made it into the highlights a total of 5 times. This and Chupathingys often varied and mediocre performances has earned them the nickname Chupa "losing the game but winning the highlights" Thingy

Chupathingy has now dedicated a page on Gingerlink's web page to the team (which can be found here)-where Kinross07 and others are likely to comment and provide stats. It is also reported that they are finalizing their logo.

Contents

Having decided to try out grifball, seeing it's coverage in it's early stages on the rooster teeth website, Gingerlink was able to try out the game a few times with friends offline over the Christmas period, in rather small 2 v 1s. Not deterred by a lack of practice with larger teams, Gingerlink was drawn to the first full grifball league (the staff tournament having been before), the Grifball Winter League 2008

Winter League Team Photo (From left to right:JRW2307, MikeofDoom360, Gingerlink {Grif} and Kinross07)

. Looking to create a team, Gingerlink grabbed his flatmate JRW2307 and his friend Kinross07. Sourcing another player, Gavintaft433 from the Hyrule.net forums, Gingerlink was left with one more spot to fill with only a couple of hours left before the sign-ups closed. MikeofDoom360 was eventually chosen because he was one of the only people to confirm they could play and "because he was British".

Very impressed with MikeofDoom360, he earned a permanent spot on the regular team, replacing Gavintaft, who eventually only played one game. This main roster of 4 players is now know as "classic Chupathingy" and all 4 are still on the roster, although JRW2307 did not play any games in the Spring League.

The Winter league started very well, especially for a team who were more often than not in total confusion. Chupathingy won their first 3 full games of grifball before coming up against L.I.E, who had proven to be a strong team in the league. Having managed to get a 2-0 lead, things started to go downhill for Chupathingy, eventually conceeding the rest of the goals, losing 7-2. the rest of the season did not continue on the same strong streak from the start and Chupathingy eventually finished 4th in Division 1 and 31st Overall, with a record of 7 wins and 4 losses.

Realizing more players were needed for the team, Gingerlink signed up a7xxrx (now appleicouslori) on a recommendation from Mike and then later scouted out LSSRaditz (now iC4nH4zR3c0nz). Both of which played in games consistently. Kinross07's younger brother, Ben the Burrito, was also called upon as a reserve and played for the team.

In the separate UK league for the Spring, the UK Grifball Spring League 2008. Gingerlink was chosen as commissioner for the league, and so transferred the captaincy over to Kinross07, however still carries out most of the duties.

The Spring league went differently from the winter league, as although it was widely agreed that the team had stronger players, tactics seemed to have fallen out of the equation more. Even so, Chupathingy won the first game of the league, against British Hammers 9-0, the first time they had done so.

Solid performances from Great British Grifballers and Tristar led to 3rd place in the division, but Chupathingy managed to scrape through into the playoffs, with solid high scoring performances against the other teams in their division and victory in their rematch against Tristar. They were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs in a brief 8-1 game against Death on Call.

During the off time between the Spring '08 and Summer '08 Leagues most of the changes since the winter league have become undone. AppleiciousLori and iC4nH4zR3c0nz both left to go to Death on Call and since Chupathingy has found oRcHiD SaMuRaI, another British player who has proven to be a very formidable Grifballer. Despite this, Chupathingy seem to be short on players and seem to suffer if one of the main 4 is unable to play.

As a result of the highlights, Chupathingy is one of the most well known British Grifball teams, especially since the UK league is now separated from the American one. Due to the success of the highlights, Gingerlink has created a highlight video for the whole of the Chupathingy Winter League.

The Highlights that made it into the official reel are:
~Chupathingy vs L.I.E
L.I.Es second score: Gingerlink stops n1nj0 on the right side of the pitch, but the bomb bounces behind him, straight into Mindless Nerd's hands, who then runs it in for a score. Termed "a Yoink and a Boom"

~Chupathingy vs L.I.E
Stopped a L.I.E score: n1nj0 get launched right accross the pitch with a full shield, only to have Gingerlink spawn at the goal and stop him. On a second look, Gingerlink was one of the ones who helped to launch him, but then gets betrayed by JRW2307. As a result, he's able to stop the score.

-Chupathingy vs Bombhead
Survivor: Running the bomb in as usual, Gingerlink catches one of Bombhead's hammers and get launched into the back corner having planted the bomb. Because he's so far away, when the bomb goes off, Gingerlink survives. This is the first time that this was recorded to have happened in grifball (and still stands as the only one to have been reported in a league game). In the highlight reel commentary, there was then a soundclip of Sarge crying "I'm so sad, I don't think I can go on. End it now, end it now".

-Chupathingy vs Pimps at Sea
Gingerlink runs into the Pimps at Sea side of the pitch, building up kill upon kill, reaching a Killamanjaro, picking the bomb up from the dead bomb carrier and scoring. There is some debate over whether Gingerlink actually betrayed his own bomb carrier during this spree. He claims to take "shared responsibility"
This highlight clip was the introduction of the Ginger Cam

The name was chosen mostly at random but beat most other names due to the Red vs. Blue reference. Other considered names were "Team Team" and "Hylian Heroes"

Gingerlink and Kinross07 ran the UK Grifball explosion

There are many running jokes within the team, although favorites include Jonathan Coulton songs.

Numerous tactics have been used by the team to attempt to confuse their opponents into submission. Few were successful.

The final goal of the UK Grifball Summer League '08 was scored by Kinross07 who betrayed Gingerlink with the sword in order to get the bomb. He insists it was purely accidental.

With Gingerlink leaving for University (and Death on Call disbanding mid-summer season) when the AUtumn league comes around Kinross07 and MikeofDoom360 will be both the most veteran UK Grifball players and the only players on their original teams.